EDITOR’S NOTE (Nick Stamatakis). Patriarch Bartholomew is not the “Pope of the East,” nor does he possess any universal jurisdiction over the Orthodox Church. The Orthodox Church has never believed in a papal model of authority where one bishop can unilaterally bind the conscience of the entire Church or negotiate away matters of dogma and ecclesiology on behalf of all Orthodox faithful. The Ecumenical Patriarch is “first among equals” — a primacy of honor, not supremacy. Any attempt to move toward “full communion” with Rome without the consensus of the canonical Orthodox Churches, the bishops, clergy, monastics, and faithful would not be an act of unity, but the potential cause of yet another devastating schism within Orthodoxy itself.
The tragic history of the false unions of Lyons (1274) and Florence (1439) stands as a permanent warning to the Church. In both cases, hierarchs pursued reunion with Rome through political pressure and theological compromise, only for the faithful Orthodox people, monastics, and saints to reject those unions as betrayals of the Orthodox Faith. True unity cannot come through diplomatic language, symbolic gestures, or emotional appeals to “sister churches” while the fundamental doctrinal differences that caused the schism remain unresolved. Rome still maintains teachings unknown to the undivided Church of the first millennium, including papal supremacy, papal infallibility, the Filioque, purgatory, and other post-schism innovations that Orthodoxy has consistently rejected.
The Orthodox Church does not seek hostility with Roman Catholics, nor should Orthodox Christians hate or despise them. We pray for all and desire the salvation of all. But love without truth is not authentic Christian unity. The Holy Fathers never taught that Eucharistic communion could exist apart from unity in faith. To speak of an “inevitable common chalice” before doctrinal agreement is reached reverses the Orthodox understanding of communion itself. Communion is the result of unity in faith — not a tool used to create it.
Furthermore, no patriarch, including the Patriarch of Constantinople, has the authority to alter Orthodox ecclesiology or dogmatic boundaries by personal vision or ecumenical enthusiasm. The faith was delivered “once for all unto the saints” (Jude 1:3), and it belongs to the whole Church, not to one hierarch or one patriarchate. The preservation of Orthodoxy has always depended not merely on bishops, but on the fullness of the Church — clergy, monastics, theologians, and faithful laity standing together in fidelity to Holy Tradition. Any reunion that ignores this reality risks tearing Orthodoxy apart internally long before it could ever claim to heal the schism with Rome.
Now is the worst possible time for Bartholomew to make such statements. As Bulgaria, Georgia, join Serbia, and Romania in various levels of disapproval of Ukrainian “Cacocephaly”, As Antioch and Jerusalem, along with most of Greece and Cyprus, do the same and as Russia is about to re-establish (either with force or any peace settlements) the rights of the UOC in Ukraine, now is not the time for this HERETIC Patriarch to make such statements. Better to stay silent as he waits for his punishment from Above…
BELOW IS THE NEWS…
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Patriarch Bartholomew: We are moving toward restoration of full unity with RCC
On the anniversary of Pope Leo XIV’s election, the Ecumenical Patriarch spoke at a Catholic Mass in Istanbul and called for the restoration of unity with the RCC.
Patriarch Bartholomew took part in a Catholic Mass marking the first anniversary of the election of Pope Leo XIV, held on May 9, 2026, at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Istanbul’s Harbiye district. In his remarks, he once again spoke of the Church of Constantinople’s path toward full unity with the RCC.
“Looking back over the past year, we can only thank God for the deepening rapprochement that continues to inspire our two Sister Churches – Rome and Constantinople. This irreversible path, which began in 1964 with the prophetic meeting of Pope Paul VI and Ecumenical Patriarch Athenagoras, has profoundly shaped the journey of reconciliation on which we continue to walk with hope, trust, and faith in God,” the Patriarch said.
According to him, “the Council of Nicaea is not merely a memory, but a horizon: a point of spiritual orientation from which the path toward the restoration of full communion can once again be seen.”
“Better to stay silent as he awaits for his punishment from Above….
Your best line ever!!
Apostolos Combitsìs, you speak of a wannabe sultan Erdogan. Why not speak of the evil that exists in the fanariotes, of every level, starting from the supreme Evil Bart and hus satanic offspring, the truly evil sultan in the U.S. a sultan his own mind elpidoktonos?
Just thinking about Barf-tholomew makes me nauseous!
I think we’re reading too much into the speech by Bartholomeau at the Catholic church. It has been a matter of speaking of the union of the churches. However, its just talk. First of all, if a union takes place, the Konstantinopolitan church would fade to insignificance. The numbers of the Catholic believers would swamp the minuscule patriarchate followers and render the patriarch a leader with very few followers.
Second, Bartholomeau, as noted above, can not unite the churches without unanimous consent from the rest of the Orthodox. Such a consent has less of a chance to happen than an ice cube not melting in hell.
Third, talk is cheap. It doesn’t cost anything to keep yapping about union. The Turks are listening and might actually believe that the Orthodox would somehow unite with the billions of Catholics. But its not only the Turks. Its everyone else who doesnt know the history, causes and mechanics of the split and the impossibility of a union ever happening.
Fourth, it makes Bartholomau sound as if he’s a statesman, a visionary, a “savior” of Christianity. But as I said, talk is cheap.
The attempts at union in the middle ages were different. Then, the Patriarch was the true and only head of all the Orthodox. There were no national churches. And the patriarchs were almost equal partners with the emperors. They could see that the empire was in mortal danger from the Ottoman Turks. Union was a defensive move, to save the empire. The feeble attempts to force the union, especially by Konstantinos Paleologos, the last emperor, who was a firm believer in the union and had actually converted to Catholicism—a detail that we, Greeks dont want to confront—a hero nonetheless and a deeply faithful man. He converted in order to save the empire. Alas, the promised help from the West never arrived. As soon as the Turks conquered the city, they installed an anti-unionist, Lukas Notaras as patriarch, thereby insuring that the feared union would never happen.
I agree these statments ussualy dont mean much but I am reminded of what the Logos said “Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man.” Words have real power and the fact that Bartolmew is saying these blatantly non orthodox statments is problematic and spirtuatlly dangerous. And another thing is the Patiarch was never the head of all orthodox even if he had excessive politcal power the head of the body of christ is christ and it is God who has power and providence over his church no the patiarch who is meant to be Gods servant.
Bob, I agree with some of your points but not others. You are correct that Patriarch Bartholomew cannot proclaim union with the Latins without the universal Church. Problem is that Patriarch Bartholomew believes otherwise.
Patriarch Bartholomew believes he is “first without equals”. The primary cause of the Ukrainian crisis is that Patriarch Bartholomew believes he can grant autocephaly to a Church that is part of another Church’s territory.
The Patriarch continues to demonstrate he believes he can do what he likes. What makes you think he won’t at some point proclaim union with the Latins?
The large number of Latins over the Phanar is not a factor.
The Patriarch may be thinking he is going to be number two under the Pope and might have a free hand in the East.
Of course none of this is going to happen but the Patriarch has lost touch with the Orthodox people everywhere and reality.
I also do not think this is just talk. One who is Orthodox does not make the statements that the Patriarch makes The patriarchs in 1848 and 1895 signed encyclicals refuting the Latins. The first was the response of the Eastern Patriarchs (also signed by the other ancient Patriarchate) to Rome’s call for union.
The 1895 encyclical was a response to the first Vatican Council and lists the numerous heresies of the Latins. These are Orthodox documents. An Orthodox Patriarch does not call for union with those outside the Church who are in error.
After the fall of Constantinople, it was Georgios Scholarios taking the name Gennadios who became Patriarch, not Lukas Notaras. Scholarios was a learned monk and disciple of Saint Mark of Ephesus. Notaras was the Grand
Duke who was murdered with his two sons on the orders of the Sultan after city fell.
As to Constantine Paleologos, there are disputes as to whether he was a Unionist. It was his brother John who signed the Union of Florence. Some contemporary Orthodox defend Constantine from the charge of Unistism including an Old Calendarist source I have.
“And if your right hand causes you to [a]sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.”
Every Orthodox Chrisitan is responisble for the preservation and truth of the Holy Orthodox faith that was delivered to us by the holy fathers. These people (including the patriarchs of Moscow and Constantiople) are actively changing faith in there respective churches and disobeying the holy cannons which are infailable and they disregard and annul the witness of the holy synods local and ecumenical and the witness of the holy fathers and worst of all the holy martyrs. Follow the teachings of the holy fathers and the synods and disregard this nonsense. “Union” with the papal organaztion is impossible and can only happen on faulty grounds and with comprise. True union comes through baptism into Christ and communion not comprise. Any group outside the communion of the orthodox chruch that call themselves christian are no christians, but pseudo christians as saints theophan the recluse teach Igantius, and Cyril of Jerusalem amoung many others. The papal court is not a church but a heretical and antichrist sect as Saint Justin Popovich teaches and others. I pray that all Roman catholics are joined to the one true church through baptism or if needed economy and are made true Christians. I advise everyone to read what Saint Mark of Ephesus said on his death bed before he reposed. Remember what our Great apostle teaches. “If a man is a heretic, after the first and second admonition reject him,” How many times have the Papists preached their madness and now its fine. Ecumenism is the spirit of the antichrist or the forerunner to.
Here are some resources that the pious orthodox must read in these confusing times:
https://churchsupplies.jordanville.org/products/the-new-testament-eob-portable
https://churchsupplies.jordanville.org/products/orthodox-faith-and-life-in-christ
https://churchsupplies.jordanville.org/products/revelation-vol-1-the-seven-golden-lampstands
https://churchsupplies.jordanville.org/products/the-field-cultivating-salvation
https://churchsupplies.jordanville.org/products/union-with-rome
https://churchsupplies.jordanville.org/products/in-defense-of-saint-cyprian?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=c52204eb1&pr_rec_pid=9212628992285&pr_ref_pid=9879296213277&pr_seq=uniform
https://churchsupplies.jordanville.org/products/on-the-steadfastness-of-the-orthodox-church?pr_prod_strat=e5_desc&pr_rec_id=805cc5242&pr_rec_pid=9438488363293&pr_ref_pid=9212628992285&pr_seq=uniform
http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/encyc_1848.aspx
http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/encyc_1895.aspx
http://orthodoxinfo.com/ecumenism/ea_rome.aspx
Please forgive me,
-Joseph.
How many years has this been the headline? “Any day now….” is getting real old.
Who actually is interested in these “events” besides Ecumenists (who are gray haired and a minority) and those who hate watch everything HAH does in order to criticize it?
The fact that these statements are so frequent tells me that the whole thing is sputtering out. If it was truly “inevitable,” you wouldn’t need all of these black tie events and photo ops to trumpet it.
I think HAH sees the winds shifting within Orthodoxy, and the waning interest on the Catholic side (their house is still on fire, the looming schism with the SSPX/Latin Mass Traditionalists and the “Rainbow” Catholics gaining traction). I get the feeling that the Catholics just are being polite (“if you’re not going to submit to the Pope, this a waste of time”).
HAH is of the generation where this stuff was important. I think he is afraid of a return to the strife of the past. The “Debatebro” phenomenon on Youtube certainly can validate those fears. These events are more CPR for Ecumenist sentiment than actual movement. The Patriarchate isn’t going to join the Catholics. That just isn’t going to happen. This is all politics and religious diplomacy. I find it distasteful, and I used to get worked up about it. But now, I see it for what it is.
I believe… in one Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. The problem is that the “Catholics” are not actually Catholic, having embraced papal heresy and schism. Yet they outnumber Orthodox Christians worldwide by about 5 to 1.
It’s therefore important for Orthodox Christians to maintain dialogue with the Vatican. Otherwise, Orthodoxy easily comes across as a small insular sect with no interest in Christian unity. Maintaining dialogue and giving lip service to Christian unity is really all that Patriarch Bartholomew is doing here. This also serves to protect Orthodoxy from the current political intrigue, especially with the Russian Church seemingly blessing a “holy war” with Western Europe. The Russian Church should really thank Patriarch Bartholomew for doing this, but of course they won’t.
You talk as if the Only church of Christ is not guarded by the holy spirit and guided by Gods providence. The Fathers have spoken and the consenus is clear the church is one and Christanity is one, all peoples outside the church are not real christians and therefore must be baptized or brought in through economy. The church may be small but it always be true it dosent matter how many numbers the church has what matters is truth which patiarch Krill and Bartlomew have failed to guard, but the church is not tied to any one bishop and there have been numerous cases in our churches history of hundreds of bishops falling into heresy and Orthodoxy prevails. The fact that Roman “catholics” outnumber orthodox is of little importance if any, the fact that many primates are comprising is imporant and hearkens to the warning that our christ gave us in revelation to the bishops of asia minor. The beging of sin is Dialouge when you dialouge with a sinful thought then you begin to sin, the same princple can be applied to “ecumenism” the Patiarach should not dialouge with heretics but monolouge and share the truth of holy orthodoxy unchanged and preach repentance and baptism.
Not the Vatican protects the OC, but God himself. The popes of the past did quite the opposite: they hurt us. How many monks in Mt. Athos were killed by catholics? Maybe you should start reading some history. We do not need to unite with heretics that think that the pope is infallible and all other dozens of heresies. In addition, they have plenty of sex scandals and money scandals that it is better we stay away. Why is Barto talking so much nonsense, if he doesn’t believe it? This is not the orthodox spirit of the church or of our holy fathers, so he sounds confused and of little orthodox intellect. It would be better if he would be quiet since he talks so much nonsense every time he opens his mouth.
Joseph, you are talking so much nonsense. How many pieces of silver did you get? What exactly should ROC thank barto for? The schism that no one recognizes? You really don’t make any sense. Barto blessed the turkish army so how is that any different? Stop being so brainwashed.
Joseph, there you go again with your broken record rhetoric of Russia is bad, the Russian Church is bad, Russia is the problem with everything in world Orthodoxy, etc., etc., etc. (Again, I have to admit you are quite entertaining. And, I’m sure that many others would agree!)
I don’t understand the hang-ups about Catholicism. We’re Orthodox, right? “Orthodox” is an adjective, not a noun.
The Catholics teach some Orthodox things. Some, not so Orthodox. Some, blatant error. And in a few instances, blasphemy (I have in mind Maximilian Kolbe’s teachings on the Immaculate Conception).
Why be duplicitous? That is the thing I really dislike about our relations with the Vatican. We say one thing in English, and then something else in Greek/Russian/Serbian/etc… We rage about them being heretics, but then we come with hat in hand, asking to use their Churches and facilities in places and situations when we have none of our own (Moscow does this too, seen it in the Mission lands).
The anti-Westernism is absurd to me. St. Maxim the Greek AND St. Nikodemos the Athonite were probably the greatest scholars of their age, and BOTH studied in Western schools and were thoroughly versed in Latin learning. All seminarians in the Russian Church of the 18th and 19th Century studied Western texts, using Western formulations (“Academic” Iconography is VERY Catholic). St. Nikodemos also did the *GASP* unenviable task of revising our Synaxarion (you can imagine the controversy that can cause). St. Maxim had the even more thankless task of correcting the Russians (he also was busy growing the greatest beard of any monk, anywhere). “Unseen Warfare” is a Catholic text. We read it (with the appropriate edits, as we see). The Te Deum is one of the most beautiful hymns in all of Christendom. Our forebearers didn’t have a problem appreciating what was good in the West and turning away from what was not Orthodox. They had a much harder time of it, too.
I don’t have a problem saying “Hey, we can’t share the Chalice, but we can be friends.” I appreciate what they do right, and I’ve met multiple Catholics who are the same with us. I think, in the end, that is all these “talks” amount to.
Just so you know, the Te Deum was written before the Great Schism. St Ambrose of Milan was fully Orthodox.
I know. Too often, partisans among us (Orthodox) paint “The West” with a broad brush. That is what I was speaking to with my comment. The Catholics don’t get everything right, but they do get some things right (and we should be secure enough in our faith to be able to admit that and celebrate it).
Let Bartholomew become a uniate. We’ll just select a new Ecumenical Patriarch.